The two bombers, who were "disguised as customers, detonated their suicide belts at the section of the market selling grain and second-hand clothing," local government official Yusuf Muhammad told AFP.

Madagali was recaptured from Boko Haram in 2015 and has been the target of previous suicide attacks.

Image copyrightAPImage caption
Boko Haram used female suicide bombers in a similar attack in north-eastern Nigeria last year

A regional force has retaken most territory under the group's control in the past 22 months.

But as it advances into areas previously controlled by the Islamists, the army has found tens of thousands of civilians on the brink of starvation.

The number of people facing starvation in the north-east of Nigeria is as high as 120,000, of which 75,000 are children, the UN warned earlier this month.

More than two million people have been forced from their homes as a result of the Islamist insurgency.